Post Game Quotes
11/5/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Opening statement...
"First, I just want to thank you for coming out and your support. It was a tale of two halves. We saw some pretty good things considering we played a lot of players a lot of different minutes and I thought the second half we just got outplayed and outhustled. They (Lindenwood) scratched, they clawed and our rotations were off. We weren't first to loose balls and it really felt like our offense dictated our defense and that's the main area we have to get better at. We missed 14 baskets in the paint in the second half. We have to be able to finish through contact and I think from what I've seen in practice we've got a heck of a lot better than that, so that was a little uncharacteristic for us. The other thing that I didn't like was how many times we sent them to the free-throw line. I just didn't feel like we did a very good job making adjustments defensively. The great news is we've got a lot of things to work on over the next week and a half."
On losing junior Liana Doty to season ending injury...
"She's a great player and she's improved so much just with experience on the court. It's absolutely an adjustment, but that's not an excuse for how we played tonight. It wasn't because of her that we missed 14 baskets in the second half in the paint and that we didn't have the defensive rotations. I think that with her experience, her leadership and her feel for the game definitely impacts us. I thought Lindsey Cunningham did a heck of a job for us tonight. I thought when Juanita (Robinson) was at point guard, she did some nice things. I think Carrie (Shephard) is going to continue to get better. We're going to get there. It's going to look a little bit different than it did in the past, but I think collectively with those three all getting minutes, they'll do nothing but improve and get better. We'll find a way to piece it together, but I was really pleased with what I saw at the point guard position tonight."
On Lindenwood's second-half run...
"I certainly want to give credit to Lindenwood. I don't want to take anything away from them because I thought they really competed hard. I think that's really important. Do I think we exhaled at half time? Maybe a little bit. I do think we got deflated there when we were missing some shots and we didn't get down on the defensive end. That's something that every coach in the country is constantly talking to their players about. I thought we got out of the gates and for as many kids as we had play the first half, we did some really good things. In the second half, there were a lot of really bad things. That was a bad half of basketball for us, but a great half for Lindenwood. We've got stuff to work on, but if you look at Jordan Frericks, she has dominated the last four weeks at practice. This is not typical of the way she had been practicing. There are certain things that I am a little more concerned about than others. Frericks is not one of them. She has grown leaps and bounds and I have a lot of confidence in her."
Senior Morgan Eye
On the team's offensive strategy tonight...
"In the first half, we came out with the mindset of wanting to attack and score. We were fundamental, and we were taking care of the ball."
On her streak of 3-pointers in the first half...
"It felt really good. My teammates were hitting me. I just had some really wide-open looks."
On the team's performance in the second half...
"I think we just had a lot of breakdowns on defense. It came down to us respecting them, but not fearing them. They started chipping away at our lead and then our leaders had to step up and let everyone know that we're fine. I think it all comes down to our communication."
